The phone just rang. It was friends announcing they were going to drop by to deliver some presents. You just got off work and haven’t a thing to serve them. Or so you think. The following are easy appetizers that you can create out of items you may have in your refrigerator or pantry that will make it seem as if you were expecting company.

Some items to keep on hand:

• Chips and salsa. This is San Antonio. Any questions? You can liven up the usual mix with a jar of black bean dip, but even that’s not necessary if your salsa and your chips are good.
• Tins of anchovies, sardines, smoked oysters and other seafood favorites, as well as canned pâté, that some guests will enjoy.
• Several types of crackers, including soda crackers, Wheat Thins and Triscuit, so guests have a choice.
• Three or four distinctly different cheeses. These can range from a soft cheese, like a triple crème, to a harder cheese, such as Manchego. They don’t have to fancy, either. Aged cheddar, a smoky Gouda, a spreadable goat cheese from Texas, a block of Swiss, Colby and Monterey Jack all have their fans.
• Sliced salami of various types, from pepperoni to Genoa to spicy Hungarian styles, and prosciutto or ham are great to have on hand. Also stock up on a couple of mustards you can offer to dip them into.
• Bread of some sort: Cocktail rye slices, pumpernickel, pita bread, flour tortillas and baguette are among the easier styles to serve at a moment’s notice.
• Popcorn. Try seasoning your popcorn with various flavors, from black truffle to Cajun spice to Parmesan cheese and pepper. It takes only minutes to pop a fresh batch in a Dutch oven, which tastes so much better than the stuff that comes out of the microwave.
• Jars of pickled or preserved vegetables and fruits. Roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, cornichons, giardinara and even pickled brussels sprouts are at most area supermarkets. The olive bar is a great place for easy snacks. Ethnic stores offer an even wider variety, including baby eggplants, grilled zucchini and radish.
• A piece of ripe fruit to go with the cheeses. Pears, apples and oranges are all in season now and full of flavor.
• Dark chocolates. Have a bar of 70 percent dark chocolate, another of 85 percent and a third with some sort of flavor. Break off a few pieces of each for a comparison tasting. Serve with dried cranberries, raisins or nuts on the side.
• Good olive oil, good balsamic vinegar.
• Dried fruit and nuts. Mix them together with a touch of coconut or serve them separately.
• Chex Mix. Some snacks are classics for a reason. With this party mix, it’s the irresistible combination of Worcestershire sauce, butter and garlic powder on top of cereal, nuts and pretzels that make it so appealing.
• Keep a bottle of white wine or sparkling wine in the refrigerator or a six-pack of beer, so you are ready with drinks. Reds are easier to have ready since they should be served at around 65 degrees or so; if the bottle is a little warm, pop in the refrigerator for a few minutes before opening.

Here are some quick appetizer ideas:

• Wrap a radish with an anchovy. Skewer with a toothpick.
• Drain assorted olives, rinse and warm in the oven with a little olive oil, your favorite spices, some citrus zest and a skewer of fresh rosemary.
• Take slices of sour dough rye, layer with feta, then ripe tomatoes and fresh herbs. Drizzle a little olive oil on top and some freshly cracked black pepper. Or top the cheese with slices of pear and black pepper.
• Top slices of cocktail rye or pumpernickel with butter, Swiss cheese and slivers of radish.
• Roll and slice of prosciutto or black forest ham around a tender raw stalk of asparagus. The ham also works wrapped around a crunchy dill pickle.
• Offer slivers of smoked salmon and cream cheese on cocktail rye or pumpernickel. Serve with diced onion or chopped hard-cooked egg and a touch of fresh dill.
• Top toasted slices of baguette with hummus and crown with strips of roasted red bell pepper, herbs, toasted pine nuts, olive slices or a touch of spice, such as sumac or Chilean merkén.
• Nachos, fresh from the broiler, are always welcome.
• Baked brie in puff pastry is easy to assemble and always welcome. Just follow the directions on the package of brie. Serve with crackers and fruit. Or, just heat the brie up, either in the oven or microwave until it’s warm and softened and starting to ooze out of its casing. Top with a big handful of thinly sliced scallion.
• Boil your own shrimp, which taste so much better than those processed shrimp rings, and serve with a homemade cocktail sauce that has just enough horseradish and lemon to give it a kick.
• Another appetizer that can be made in a minute flat is to open up an 8-ounce package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, mound on top of it as much fresh jumbo lump crabmeat as you can afford, then empty a jar of good (cold) cocktail sauce over the crab. Very good with crackers.
• Bagna cauda is a quick-and-easy Italian butter dip that’s great with vegetables. Click here for a recipe.
• Make bagel pizzas. Slice the bagel in half, top with your favorite pizza sauce and garnish with shredded mozzarella cheese. Pop under the broiler until the cheese melts, 2 or 3 minutes. Add pepperoni, bell pepper or mushrooms, to taste.
• Make a dip mixing equal parts 8 ounces each of salsa and cream cheese at room temperature. Whip together until full incorporated. Top with a confetti of diced red onion and green and red bell pepper. Serve with bagel chips.
• Make quick quesadillas by using shredded cheese between two flour tortillas and your choice of filling. Add cooked beef fajitas or grilled shrimp, and it’s so much the better.
• If you have any leftover Holiday Cran-Raspberry Sauce or sweet-spicy jelly, pour it over cream cheese.
• This recipe for crab dip comes from my late sister-in-law, Jeanne Servais: Clean 7 ounces crab meat, mix it with 8 ounces cream cheese softened at room temperature, 1 tablespoon sour cream, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce and1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce. Mix well and bake in a greased, oven-proof dish at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
• If you want to use your slow cooker, then here’s a good one to mix together. Grease the dish first, then add 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese softened at room temperature, 1 cup milk,2 1/4 ounces sliced dried beef and1 tablespoon dry mustard. Mix well. Heat on low for several hours until melted together. Serve with cubes of good bread on fondue sticks or wooden skewers as well as vegetable sticks.
• If your guests like a mix of sweet and salty, then place individual butter pretzels (the little square kind)  on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Then place a single unwrapped Rolo candy on each pretzel. Top each candy with pecan half. Bake at 250 degrees until the candy is melted.  Allow to cool or refrigerate before serving.
• Don’t forget one of the simplest of all appetizers: A shallow bowl of extra-good, extra virgin olive oil, seasoned as you like it, with kosher salt and cracked pepper, herbs, a few hot pepper flakes. And, have slices of very fresh baguette to dip into it.

(Photo: Zsuzsanna Kilian)

These frightful-looking treats are basically just nachos, resembling the famous Shypoke Eggs made at Timbo’s burger restaurant in San Antonio.

Scary Hairy Eyeball Nachos

Oil for frying
6 small corn tortillas
6 slices cheddar cheese
4-6 slices Jack or provolone cheese
6 pitted green olives
Red food coloring
Salsa, if desired

Heat oil in large skillet. Fry small tortillas in oil until crisp, drain on paper towels.

Line the tortillas up on a bake sheet. Turn the oven on “broil”. With a jar lid or rim of a drinking glass just a little smaller in diameter than the tortilla, cut 6 rounds of white cheese from the slices. Use a smaller rim, cookie cutter to cut the smaller rounds of cheese from the cheddar slices. (I used the top of a spice jar to cut these.)

Put a round of white cheese on each tortilla. Top each with the round of Cheddar. Slice up the pitted green olives to make the center of the eyeballs. If desired, you can use a toothpick to “paint” on the bloodshot eyes.

Put the nachos under the broiler until the cheese is just melted. Serve with salsa, if desired.

Makes 6 appetizers.

From Bonnie Walker

Sarika’s has been a successful chain of Thai restaurants for many years, thanks in part to a menu that offers traditional Thai dishes as well as locally inspired ones like Shrimp Nachos.  It is adding a new restaurant in New Braunfels, Sarika’s Thai Gourmet.  This fourth restaurant opens Monday at 263 Loop 337, suite 200.  Call (830) 620-5050.

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With two popular downtown  San Antonio restaurants to her credit, Lisa Wong continues to reign among the city’s top restaurateurs.  Rosario’s Mexican Cafe y Cantina, 910 S. Alamo St., and Acenar, 146 E. Houston St., are popular with tourists, but also bring plenty of San Antonio locals downtown.

Rosario’s Shrimp Nachos are perennial favorites.  The warmed pico de gallo makes a flavorful sauce and the combination of shrimp and melted cheese can’t go wrong.

Rosario’s Shrimp Nachos

To make pico de gallo: Place tomato, onion, cilantro, minced and seeded jalapeño and lime juice in one bowl. Mix well, then set aside.

To make nachos: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice shrimp in half lengthwise for 12 pieces.  Over low-to-medium heat 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon minced garlic. Add shrimp and sauté about 1 minute per side or until cooked through. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.

Sauté pico de gallo in same pan with remaining butter-garlic mixture for 1-2 minutes till cooked through.  Set aside.

Take 12 nacho chips (triangular corn chips, homemade preferred) and place on cookie sheet. Place a shrimp half on each chip and top with pico de gallo and grated Monterey Jack cheese. Place in oven until the cheese is melted and the nachos are hot.

After you take them out of the oven top each nacho with guacamole and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

From Lisa Wong of Rosario’s.

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Maybe it is easier to show your love for Dad if you think more about what he does for fun than what gets advertised.

So if your father likes to get up and have a good breakfast — make him a special one like Spiced Baked Apple. (All recipes below.) If he likes to watch movies, there are a bunch of guy movies showing during the Father’s Day weekend and a batch of Spiceman’s Nachos would be a perfect accompaniment to watching an old western.

Perhaps your ol’ Pop is not a morning person, so a nice dinner with a Good Rib-eye is more in line for him. No matter which way Dad would like best, he’ll love the attention.

Spiced Baked Apples

The first time I had these was at Brennan’s in New Orleans. That was the place I learned about ordering a bottle of wine for breakfast (after cocktails) and how to spend more for breakfast than I did on my monthly grocery bill. I will always remember how they showed me a few priorities in life. This is real simple, do not be afraid of your food. Do not cut back on the sugar and 2-percent milk is NOT the same as cream. Every now and then, just reward yourself and indulge a little.

Spiced Baked Apples
9 firm apples, like Pink Lady or Winesap
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¾ teaspoon mace
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
3 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Core the apples and place them in a lightly oiled baking dish. Sprinkle them with spices, then with the sugar. Portion 1 teaspoon of the butter into the hollow of each apple. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until tender.
(Note: At this point the apples can be set aside, or refrigerated, then reheated before serving.)

Place baked apples into serving bowls and pour 1/3 cup cream over each.

Serves 9.

Spiceman Nachos

OK, it’s coals to Newcastle and preaching to the choir time. You have had, and made, nachos before. This recipe will not change your culinary life, but this recipe does upscale a manly favorite.

Sure, you could open a “pop with the foam on top,” but this also will go well with many lightly sweet rieslings or fruity reds like a shiraz.

Spiceman Nachos
1 pound tube sausage, your favorite
1 pound hamburger, 95 percent lean
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 (16-ounce) can refried black beans
1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
1 bag corn chips, at least 16 ounces
1 pound Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (7-ounce) can jalapeño slices
8-32 ounces sour cream, to taste
1 bunch green onions, chopped

Place sausage in a cold pan and put on medium heat. As it starts to cook and render fat, add the hamburger. Cook until done.

While the meat cooks, melt butter in a small pan and the add beans. Stir until incorporated; add the poblanos, stir well and set aside. On a oiled or foil-lined baking sheet, arrange small piles of chips, or chip islands, for the number of servings you desire. Drop a little of the refried beans on each island and then sprinkle cheese on top of each.

When meat is cooked, add the cumin seeds and stir for a minute; add the chili powder and repeat. Add the onions and cook until transparent, about 4 minutes. Pour juice from jalapeños into the pan to deglaze, simmer until most of the liquid is gone. Remove from heat.

Portion the meat on top of the cheese and broil for a few minutes until the cheese starts to toast but before the chips start to get dark brown. Remove from oven, top with sour cream, green onions and sliced jalapeños and whatever other topping — salsa, pico de gallo, tomato or peppers — you want. Use a spatula to serve nachos on individual plates. (If you used foil, just cut the foil and put your portions on a plate.)

Serves  2 to 8, depending on the size of your portions.

Good Rib-eye

Good beef, when it isn’t cooked dry, is simply wonderful. I am quite convinced that I have a genetic pre-disposition that requires that I consume beef on a regular basis.

So, we will take a little rib-eye, season it, and later bask in the decadent, sated feeling you can only achieve with red meat. Am I getting passionate, or what?

Serve with a cabernet sauvignon from Chile, California, or Texas.

Good Rib-eye
4 rib-eye steaks, ¾ to 1 pound each
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Grilling method:
Heat your cleaned grill until it is hot. Season meat with thyme, pepper, garlic and salt. Quickly wipe the grates with an olive-oil infused paper towel and slap those steaks on! Adjust the grills heat to medium and let them cook for about 5 minutes and then turn them. You should have a definite grill mark on the cooked side when you do this. Continue cooking for 4 minutes and remove the rib-eyes from the grill. For the size steaks I have listed, these times should give you a medium finish, depending on the thickness of the rib-eyes and the heat of your grill.

Stovetop method:
Heat oil in a sauté pan to medium. Season outside of rib-eyes just before placing into the sauté pan. Cook to your desired level of doneness (use the times listed above for grilling) and then set aside to rest.

For the sauce:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups red wine, good enough to drink
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
Heat butter in the sauté pan you cooked the beef in and cook shallots until soft. Add mushrooms and salt, and cook until soft. Add wine and reduce until sauce starts to thicken, add thyme. Simmer for 3 minutes, correct seasonings, spoon over the beef.

Serves 4.